SILA Sports Complex

The SILA complex in Plovdiv combines sports facilities with a multifunctional hall used for concerts and other cultural events. Its courts accommodate sports including basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis and futsal. For performances, the two playing areas can be joined and fitted with movable stands and floor seating, allowing up to 2,700 seated spectators depending on the position of the stage. The building also provides foyers, accessible entry and supporting facilities for performers and guests. Its published event programme includes live music and theatrical shows as well as sporting competitions, giving the hall a role beyond its everyday athletic use. Plovdiv's concert-going belongs mostly to the Roman theatre on the hill and to the halls of the old town, but its largest audiences are gathered in sports buildings, and the SILA complex is one of them. Courts are cleared, a platform is built, seating is trucked in, and an orchestra plays to numbers no purpose-built room in the city could seat. It is a practical arrangement, familiar wherever demand has outgrown the architecture.